Access to Storage Resources Using a Virtual Storage Appliance

1. A method executed by at least one processor comprising: loading a storage virtual appliance as a first virtual machine on a hypervisor; installing the storage virtual appliance as a PCI-E device having access to a first port of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) non-transparent bridge (NTB) that supports direct memory access (DMA); responsive to detecting, by the hypervisor, that the storage virtual appliance is installed as a PCI-E device, loading a storage virtual appliance block device driver for the storage virtual appliance, wherein the storage virtual appliance block device driver has access to a second port of the PCI-E non-transparent bridge; and using the storage virtual appliance, enabling a guest operating system executing as a second virtual machine on the hypervisor to access storage resources, wherein the storage virtual appliance communicates with the guest operating system via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge (NTB).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage virtual appliance is loaded as a virtual PCI-E device in a system address space of the hypervisor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hypervisor executes on a multiprocessor system, and wherein the PCI-E non-transparent bridge spans across at least two processors in the multiprocessor system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading the storage virtual appliance on the hypervisor further comprises: discovering, at the storage virtual appliance block device driver, the storage resources enabled for access by the storage virtual appliance; and reporting the storage resources to the guest operating system.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of guest operating systems executing as respective virtual machines under the hypervisor are provided access to the storage resources via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge using the storage virtual appliance.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage resources comprise at least one of: a cache network shared among a plurality of multiprocessor servers, including the multiprocessor server; a storage area network; a flash memory solid state device; a storage resource accessed using remote direct memory access; and an array of storage devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein access by the guest operating system to the storage resources comprises access to the storage resources by an application executing on the guest operating system, and wherein the application accesses the storage resources via a virtual file system that includes the storage virtual appliance block device driver supporting access to the storage virtual appliance via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge.

8. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, that, when executed by a processor subsystem, cause the processor subsystem to: load a storage virtual appliance as a first virtual machine on a hypervisor; install the storage virtual appliance as a PCI-E device having access to a first port of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) non-transparent bridge (NTB) that supports direct memory access (DMA); responsive to detection, by the hypervisor, that the storage virtual appliance is installed as a PCI-E device, load a storage virtual appliance block device driver for the storage virtual appliance, wherein the storage virtual appliance block device driver has access to a second port of the PCI-E non-transparent bridge; and using the storage virtual appliance, enable a guest operating system executing as a second virtual machine on the hypervisor to access storage resources, wherein the storage virtual appliance communicates with the guest operating system via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge (NTB).

9. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the storage virtual appliance is loaded as a virtual PCI-E device in a system address space of the hypervisor.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the processor subsystem comprises a plurality of processors that execute the hypervisor, and wherein the PCI-E non-transparent bridge spans across at least two processors in the plurality of processors.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the instructions that cause the processor subsystem to load the storage virtual appliance on the hypervisor further comprise instructions to cause the processor subsystem to: discover, within the storage virtual appliance block device driver, the storage resources enabled for access by the storage virtual appliance; and report the storage resources to the guest operating system.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein a plurality of guest operating systems executing as respective virtual machines under the hypervisor are provided access to the storage resources via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge using the storage virtual appliance.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the storage resources comprise at least one of: a cache network shared among a plurality of multiprocessor servers, including the multiprocessor server; a storage area network; a flash memory solid state device; a storage resource accessed using remote direct memory access; and an array of storage devices.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein access by the guest operating system to the storage resources comprises access to the storage resources by an application executing on the guest operating system, and wherein the application accesses the storage resources via a virtual file system that includes the storage virtual appliance block device driver supporting access to the storage virtual appliance via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge.

15. An information handling system comprising: a processor subsystem having access to a memory subsystem, wherein the memory subsystem stores instructions executable by the processor subsystem, that, when executed by the processor subsystem, cause the processor subsystem to: load a storage virtual appliance as a first virtual machine on a hypervisor; install the storage virtual appliance as a PCI-E device having access to a first port of a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI-E) non-transparent bridge (NTB) that supports direct memory access (DMA); responsive to detection, by the hypervisor, that the storage virtual appliance is installed as a PCI-E device, load a storage virtual appliance block device driver for the storage virtual appliance, wherein the storage virtual appliance block device driver has access to a second port of the PCI-E non-transparent bridge; and using the storage virtual appliance, enable a guest operating system executing as a second virtual machine on the hypervisor to access storage resources, wherein the storage virtual appliance communicates with the guest operating system via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge (NTB).

16. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the storage virtual appliance is loaded as a virtual PCI-E device in a system address space of the hypervisor.

17. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the processor subsystem comprises a plurality of processors that execute the hypervisor, and wherein the PCI-E non-transparent bridge spans across at least two processors in the plurality of processors.

18. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions that cause the processor subsystem to load the storage virtual appliance on the hypervisor further comprise instructions to cause the processor subsystem to: discover, within the storage virtual appliance block device driver, the storage resources enabled for access by the storage virtual appliance; and report the storage resources to the guest operating system.

19. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein a plurality of guest operating systems executing as respective virtual machines under the hypervisor are provided access to the storage resources via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge using the storage virtual appliance.

20. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein the storage resources comprise at least one of: a cache network shared among a plurality of multiprocessor servers, including the multiprocessor server; a storage area network; a flash memory solid state device; a storage resource accessed using remote direct memory access; and an array of storage devices.

21. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein access by the guest operating system to the storage resources comprises access to the storage resources by an application executing on the guest operating system, and wherein the application accesses the storage resources via a virtual file system that includes the storage virtual appliance block device driver supporting access to the storage virtual appliance via direct memory access over the PCI-E non-transparent bridge.